JEAN-MARC NATTIER (1685-1766) Empress Catherine I of Russia (1717) Oil on canvas (142 x 110 cm) The Hermitage, St. Petersburg (To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") This is a painting of no exceptional artistic merit. The fact that is here is due to its value as a …
Tag: Portrait
An English Diplomat
ANTON RAPHAEL MENGS (1728=1779) Louis de Visme (1762-67) Oil on canvas (129 x 83 cm) Christ Church College, Oxford (To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") Another example of Mengs' excellence as a portraitist. The portrait must have been painted between 1762 and 1767, the years when de …
The Earl of Chesterfield
WILLIAM HOARE RA (1707-1792) Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Pastel on paper (66.7 x 48.6 cm) Location unknown To enlarge the images, right-click on them and choose "Open in a new tab" William Hoare is the kind of artist that deserves to be better known. Unfortunately, for him, he was the contemporary of Sir …
An Irish Gentleman
ANTON RAPHAEL MENGS (1728-1759) William Burton Conyngham Pastel on paper (65 x 48.5 cm) Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") Pastel was a very popular medium among artists in the XVIII century. Mengs had made his name as a pastelist in Dresden, …
The Marquess of Monthermer
ANTON RAPHAEL MENGS (1728-1779) John Brudenell-Montague, later Marquess of Monthermer (1758) Oil on canvas (244 x 171 cm) The Duke of Buccleuch (To enlarge the image, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") John Lord Brudenell (1735-1770), who wore the title of Marquess of Monthermer from 1766, was the only son of …
The arrogant admiral
FRANCIS COTES (1726-1770) Admiral Harry Paulet, Sixth Duke of Bolton (1765) Oil on canvas (127 x 102 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab" The son of a prominent apothecary and the older brother of Samuel Cotes, the miniaturist, Francis …
A Morbid Sitter
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS (1723-1792) George Augustus Selwyn (c.1764-66) Oil on canvas (99 x 76 cm) The Earl of Rosebery, Dalmeny House, near Edinburgh Apart from being an example of Reynolds' artistic virtuosity, this portrait is fascinating because it represents a distraught individual whose face does not reveal his morbid character. According to Nicholas Penny: "George …
The Countess
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS (1723-1792) Anne, 2nd Countess Albemarle (c. 1759) Oil on canvas (126 x 101 cm) The National Gallery, London Although some colour has fled from the face in this portrait as is usual with Reynold's work of this period, the shadows there retain their transparency; the lights painted in the patterned black mantle …
Nicolas de Largillière
NICOLAS DE LARGILLIERE (1656-1746) Self-portrait (1711) Oil on canvas (80 x 65 cm) Chateau de Versailles To enlarge the image, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab" Largillière painted several portraits of himself: in 1699 (Tours, Musee des Beaux-Arts), 1711 (Versailles, Chateau), 1724 (Montpellier, Musee Fabre) and 1729 (Florence, Uffizi). These works …
Monsieur Lerambert
ALEXIS-SIMON BELLE (1674-1734) Portrait of Louis Lerambert Oil on canvas (130 x 99 cm) To enlarge the image, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab" Born into a family of artists Alexis-Simon Belle trained under Francois de Troy. He followed the teaching dispensed by the Royal Academy and won the Prix de …
Old Masters 